The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits, by Jennifer Weiner

Zoe and Cassie Grossberg—or, as the public knows them, the Griffin Sisters—become overnight pop stars after an annual Battle of the Bands competition at Dobbs on South Street. Cassie, despite being a musical prodigy, never wanted the spotlight and suffers ostracization because of her weight. But she agrees to join Zoe onstage as a way to pay her older sister back for all the times she looked after Cassie. Despite Zoe’s pop-star looks and thirst for fame, Cassie is the one who captivates their fans and the band’s guitarist Russell, who becomes a love interest for both sisters.

Tensions soon rise, and Weiner builds compelling contrasts between the two sisters. Two decades later, they are estranged: Cassie has sentenced herself to a solitary existence in Alaska while Zoe grapples with her defiant, fame-chasing teenage daughter. Each sister carries grief over the aftermath of their speedy fame, and what could’ve been. Anyone who has a sister might relate to the sense that no-one can understand you and challenge you (whether or not they intend to) like she can.

Weiner not only focuses on the combative, unraveling relationship between sisters, but also on the dynamic relationships between mothers and daughters, including the titular sisters’ relationship with their own mother, Janice, who has painful expectations of Cassie. Twenty years after the band breaks up, Zoe’s daughter Cherry suffers as her mom suppresses her memories and deters Cherry’s musical dreams.

There’s no denying that part of the entertainment associated with pop stars includes judging these stars, particularly the women. As Zoe says, fans “thought that they owned their female stars, that their fandom gave them a say in what they wore, how they looked, who they loved.” Zoe and Cassie’s fictional journey is, unfortunately, a mirror for the life of many real celebrity women.

While the sisters Weiner creates are complete opposites, both are shamed and exploited by a male-dominated industry. That’s why it feels underwhelming that at the heart of the novel, and their estrangement, is the affection of their male guitar player, whom both sisters want for themselves (albeit for different reasons).

Filled with Philly references and complex relationships (whether between mothers and daughters, sisters, or lovers), The Griffin Sisters’ Greatest Hits shows us just how far we go sometimes to help, hurt, and forgive the ones we love.